This morning, as I saw my daughter walking away to her classroom, I realized not only how much I love her, but how brief and fragile life is. After what happened at the Connecticut Elementary School, I couldn’t but think how easily I could lose her today.

Images of the Bible story about Joseph rushed to my mind as I stayed outside my daughters’ school. Pretty much like Jacob, neither do we know when we’ll lose our kids.

I imagine the morning when Jacob sent Joseph to Shechem to look for his brothers. He was probably rushing from one duty to another, distracted by all his work, when he suddenly remembered that his sons were shepherding the lambs and decided to send Joseph.

The Bible doesn’t tell us the way they said goodbye to each other, but it gives us the impression that they did it casually, since they were supposed to be reunited pretty soon again. Little did Jacob know that that very day would be the last he would see his son, and that for more than 20 years he would mourn Joseph…

If you knew for sure that today is the last day of your son or daughter’s life, what would you do? How would you talk to them? How would you listen to them? Would you spend more time, laugh more, and pray more with them? Would you love them more? I bet you would.

We take life for granted as if we (or the ones we love) were never to die, but life is but a vapor that vanishes in an instant.

Love your children today. It doesn’t matter if they are babies, teenagers, or adults. Love them today. Tell them how much you care about them. Tell them that without them your life wouldn’t be the same. Huge them, kiss them. Tell them how important they are to you, because they need to hear it, because you don’t know the future, because tomorrow it could be too late.